Published: 01:12 PM, 02 December 2017 Last Update: 07:33 PM, 02 December 2017
Annisul Huq laid to rest at Banani
Dhaka North Mayor Annisul Huq has been laid to rest at the capital’s Banani Graveyard.
People from all walks of life attended his funeral prayers and bid the final farewell to the beloved mayor on Friday. His well-wishers said they would never forget the mayor who brought tangible changes in the northern part of the capital city.
Politicians from across the political spectrum, including the BNP paid their final respects to the departed mayor. Business leaders of all political stripes were also in attendance.
Obaidul Quader, the general secretary of the ruling Awami League party that had supported Annisul's mayoral election, said there would never be another person who would serve the city the way he did.
The coffin bearing the mayor's body arrived from London Saturday afternoon and was first taken to his Banani home to allow people to pay their respects and then to Army Stadium for funeral prayers before being brought to Banani Graveyard.
Annisul Huq’s wife Rubana Huq accompanied the body from London. The late mayor's brother, Army Chief Abu Belal Mohammad Shafiul Huq, accompanied his brother’s mortal remains from the airport to his final resting place.
Mayor Huq went to London at the end of July as his daughter was scheduled to give birth the following month. He was admitted to a hospital there after suddenly falling ill.
He died at the hospital on Thursday night at the age of 65 after around four months of treatment when the British doctors left no stone unturned for his cure. The doctors had diagnosed him with cerebral vasculitis — an inflammation of the blood vessel wall involving the brain.
Huq was elected Dhaka North City Corporation mayor on a ruling Awami League ticket in April, 2015.
He had served as president of Bangladesh’s apex trade body FBCCI during the military-installed caretaker administration. Prior to that, he also headed the trade body of apparel makers and exporters, BGMEA.
With no apparent political ties, he was a surprise pick by the Awami League. Born in his mother’s ancestral village of Sonapur at Sonagazi in Feni on Oct 27, 1952, Huq graduated in economics from Chittagong University.
His father Shariful Huq, hailing from Noakhali’s Companyganj, was an official of the Ansar force while his brother General Abu Belal Mohammad Shafiul Huq is the current chief of Bangladesh Army.
He founded Mohammadi Group in 1986 after a stint in television as an anchor in the 1980s and 90s.
His wife Rubana Huq is the managing director of Mohammadi Group.
Their daughter Tanisha Fariaman Huq is also a company director.
The two other directors of the group are Annisul’s son Navidul Huq and Rubana’s daughter Wamiq Umaira, who is working at the International Labour Organization.
